Commentary on the Politics, History and Culture of the Middle East and Central Asia, by Brian Ulrich

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Israel's Nutty Right

Is it just me, or is the really crazy part of Israel's right more vocal than usual? I base this only on the fact the past few months have seen a serious uptick in the number of people bringing up the most extreme pro-Zionist views I'm aware of. According to some, Israel was largely uninhabited before Zionist immigration. The West Bank settlers are courageous heroes for braving Palestinian terror to reclaim their ancestral land. Israel has ceded a great deal to the Palestinians and gotten nothing in return.

For some reason, even though I was already in a bad mood, I wandered over to Arutz Sheva, where I read an opinion piece arguing that American foreign policy is driven by anti-Semitism, and compares the Annapolis conference to Auschwitz. This piece by two Hebron settlers contains a view of history shared by an important slice of Israelis even though it's as much theologically driven insanity as what Hamas cooks up. Also, while I agree with Jonathan Dresner's comment on this post, the dominant impression was left by a commenter who also sees Annapolis as equivalent to Auschwitz and alleges that the U.S. Department of State is anti-Semitic. I think all these crazy views circulate in some fora where I simply don't pay much attention, away from the newspaper editorial pages and comments of leading politicians.

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About Me

I am an Associate Professor in History at Shippensburg University, where I teach courses in Middle Eastern and world history. My two major research areas are the Middle East from the 7th through 10th centuries and the Persian Gulf from ancient times to the present. Nothing on this site represents an official position of Shippensburg University.